


The Vines That Connect Us

by IWillBeTheEndofYou



Series: The Domestic Lives Of Figure Skaters [12]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: English IS broken, Found Family, Homework, I can't math, It shouldn't be this hard, M/M, Podium Family, School Assignments, THE NEW MATH IS SCARY, Victor thinks it's all terrible, Yuri just wants to pass this assignment, Yuuri does his best, difficulty, what if all the calculators did break?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:02:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28745178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IWillBeTheEndofYou/pseuds/IWillBeTheEndofYou
Summary: Yuri needs a little help with his homework. It really shouldn't be that hard. Victor and Yuuri would disagree for several reasons.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Series: The Domestic Lives Of Figure Skaters [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2046686
Comments: 38
Kudos: 192





	The Vines That Connect Us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SoYoureClairevoyant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoYoureClairevoyant/gifts).



“Katsudon,” Yuri brought out his laptop, notebook, and pens. “Help me?”

“With what?” Yuuri looked away from the television, pleased that Yuri was not only asking for help, but asking him for help.

“English,” he plopped down on the floor, putting his laptop on the coffee table. He knelt down, frowning as he tapped the screen.   
“Determine if the proper word was used in this sentence. I'm struggling with effect versus affect.”

“Oh! Okay, well, affect is a verb and effect is a noun.” that was simple enough to explain. And explaining it in few words. This homework thing was going to be a piece of cake. What had he been worried about?

The kid didn't pick up his pencil or begin typing on the laptop. He just tilted his head to once side.

“Huh?” Yuri blinked.

“Affect means to impact or change. Effect is the result of the change.” he smiled. Yuri continued to stare blankly at him.

“I'm not understanding the difference.”

“Right,” Yuuri sighed. Maybe this wasn't as simple as he had cut it out to be in his head. “So like, if you you trip while skating, tripping affected where you stand. But the change in your score is effect.”

“Oh,” Yuri stared at the screen for a few more minutes. The brunet sat at the edge of the couch, watching him tap his pen a few times against his notebook. He jotted down a few lines, bit his lip and then crossed them out. “Katsudon?”

“Yeah, bud?”

“English is stupid.”

“Yeah,” he agreed with a sigh. “It really, really is.”

Although, he amended in his head, it was probably not quite the language and more of an operator error.

A few nights later, Yuri appeared with the laptop again. Yuuri cringed, trying to shrink into the corner of the couch where he was curled playing a game on his phone. He really, really didn't want to try and help again. The kid looked between the two of them for a moment, weighing out his options.

“Vitya?” 

The older Russian made an affirmative sound from where he was watching television in the other corner of the couch. Yuri was kneeling down at the coffee table again, leaning his weight on his elbows. 

“Are you good at math?”

“Sure,” he shrugged. “I did well in school and university. What's up?”

“I don't understand.” he showed Victor the screen. Victor leaned forward, turning the laptop closer to himself. His brow furrowed as he read the instructions a few times.

“Will you get me a piece of paper and a pencil?” Yuri wordlessly provided the items. They watched Victor with interest as he scribbled down facts and figures and tried to follow with what the instructions on the screen said. After a few moments, he set down his pencil.  
“Yura, when, exactly, did they change math?”

“What?”

“This is not how I learned it.”

“Well, old man,” Yuri snorted. “We don't have to use an abacus now. We do have calculators.”

“I am not old! I just don't understand how math has rules and they have changed all the rules. It's insanity.”

“It can't be that bad.” Yuuri unfolded himself and pushed away his blanket to squint at the screen. Once he saw all the steps, he paused.  
“Or maybe it's worse.”

“It's just math...” Yura mumbled.

“I don't know what this witchcraft is, but it is not math!” Victor slammed down the pencil. “I should email that instructor and ask them if they enjoy tormenting students.”

“Victor,” Yuuri groaned.

“No! You can't change math, that doesn't make sense. Then it wouldn't be math anymore, would it?” he rose sharply and headed for their home office, apparently to pull out his own laptop and begin to write an impassioned email.

“He can't actually email your teacher, can he?” Yuuri mumbled out of the corner of his mouth.

“No, I don't think he understands how to get to the list of my teachers.” Yuri assured him. He closed the laptop and stood up.  
“Come on old man, don't get upset. I'll let you tell me stupid stories about how you won the junior grand prix?” he coaxed. He headed into the office to indulge his guardian.

Several nights following that, Yuri appeared once more with the laptop. Both of the older men cringed. 

“Can you help me?” Yuri asked, in his grumpy voice. He seemed to know this was a poor choice, but what other choice did he have? Poor Yurio, Yuuri thought, stuck with the two of them for guardians, who apparently were pure useless at homework.

“What subject is it?” Victor asked wearily. 

“It's science.” 

“What kind of science?” Yuuri sighed, rubbing his forehead.

“You know what!” Victor slapped his hands down on his thighs. “Why don't you call Otabek and ask him about this? I bet he'd be thrilled to help you.”

“That's a great idea.” Yuuri beamed. 

The blond just nodded and headed back to his room with his laptop. Victor visibly sagged against the couch. They sat for a few moments together, enjoying the fact that they had obviously dodged a bullet. 

“I would rather have to help Yakov take a bath than help Yuri with his homework again.” Victor sighed.

“Why would you ever put that vision in my head?” Yuuri gasped. “What did I ever do to you? I thought you loved me.”

“I love you, nearly as much as I hate math.”

“You don't hate math.”

“I hate the new math!” Victor insisted. “It is the Devil's plaything, and I won't be subjected to that again.”

“Well, if Otabek can't help then maybe we should get him a tutor.” Yuuri mused. Victor just flopped against his husband, looking put out and grouchy.

“How can you change math?”

“I think it's supposed to teach mental math.”

“Well, Yurio said it himself, they have calculators now.”

“What if the calculators broke?” Yuuri shrugged.

“All of them? What if all the calculators at once broke? I think you're being silly.” Victor scowled. He burrowed into Yuuri. The brunet rolled his eyes and slid an arm around his shoulders, drawing him into him. The Russian sighed in content, and Yuuri thought not for the first time and their ward wasn't the only one who had some cat like qualities.

“Even if they all broke, we'd still have our fingers, I suppose.” Yuuri mused. 

***

“I need help with my homework.” Yura announced one Saturday after they had put in a long day at the rink. Yuuri had collapsed on the sofa, his arm draped over his eyes. He let his arm fall to look at him.

“I thought we'd agreed that you could ask one of your rink mates or Beka?”

“It isn't that kind of homework.”

“What is it then, Yurio?” Victor came in with mugs of hot chocolate for all of them. He lifted Yuuri's legs and set them on his lap. The kid squirmed a little bit. They sat quietly, letting him muster up his   
courage. It never worked out to rush him or push him.

“M-my family tree.” he muttered.

The two men froze, then looked at each other. Blue eyes peered into brown. Neither was quite sure what to say, or what to make of it. Yuuri sat up slowly and picked up his chocolate, blowing gently across the top before taking a sip.

“Did you want to call Grandpa?” Victor asked carefully. “I'm afraid that I don't remember much about—about...”

“No,” the kid snapped. He let his hair hang over his face, his hands in fists on the coffee table where he sat on the floor. They could hear the tension, and Yuuri could almost picture the tension in his jaw.   
“I don't want them on it. Dedushka, yes. But not my mom and dad.”

“Then who do you want?” Yuuri asked softly. 

“You!” his head snapped up. “It's stupid, but I'm not turning in just one name on it.” he looked away again.  
“It's fine if you say no.”

“We'd never.” Yuuri shook his head.

“Of course we'd be there. Wouldn't we? Go and get your laptop, Yurio. Let's get to work on it right away. I'm sure you'll want our parents, won't you? Mama Katsuki and Mari and Toshiya...” that heart shaped smile cracked across Victor's face. 

The blond trotted off for his laptop. He made himself comfortable on the floor. He booted it up and quickly pulled up the program, then typed in a few things.

“I start with me,” he murmured. “But... what do I call you? And how does Dedushka fit? He's not your parent.”

“Maybe a little bit, he is.” Yuuri said suddenly. There had been times when he'd called Nikolai, worried about Yuri. There were times when they all went to his home together for a good Sunday dinner, or had him over. And whenever they left, he clapped each Yuuri and Victor on the shoulder and told them to drive safely, and let him know when they arrived home. He even made sure to have green tea at his house for Yuuri to drink. And at Christmas time, they'd each received a gift from him.   
“Maybe not exactly, but we're all connected by something important. And he is an older person who provides us with guidance and advice and care.”

“What connects you?” Yuri's brow furrowed.

“You,”

His cheeks turned pink and he turned back to the laptop, staring at the screen for a few moments. His fingers hovered over the keyboard.

“I don't know what I'm supposed to call you.”

“Whatever title you're comfortable with.” Yuuri had to swallow past the lump in his throat. Yura thought for a second.

“I'm putting parent under each of you.” he grumbled. “And I'll kick the teeth out of anyone who has anything to say about it. What's Mama Katsuki's name again?” he looked at Yuuri.  
“We've called her that for song long, I've forgotten.”

“Hiroko,” somehow, he managed not to leap off the couch and wrap his arms around the boy. “And my father is Toshiya.”

They worked on the family tree for about half an hour. Victor and Yuuri fed him the names of their parents, great parents, and even great grandparents. Yuri told them that was enough and casually   
shut the laptop and turned to watch television. He didn't notice that his guardians were holding hands under the blanket, squeezing as they gave each name, spelling out the Japanese ones as they went.

The spent the rest of the afternoon watching television, the two adults curled on the couch, the kid sprawled on the floor. In the early evening, he rose and muttered something about playing a game with some friends.

They didn't see him the rest of the night, but Yuuri went along with their regular nighttime routine. After he and Victor had eaten, showered, and were ready to turn in, he knocked on the door. A headphone was pulled away from his ear.

“Da?”

“We're going to bed, kiddo.”

He set aside his game and crawled off his bed, heading to the doorway. He wrapped his arms around Yuuri's waist, gave him a squeeze. Yuuri dropped a kiss to the top of that pretty golden hair. They hung on each other for just a moment.

“Good night, Yuuri.”

“Good night, Yura.” he paused. “Can I ask you? What made you put us on the tree? We wouldn't have been offended if you'd listed Nadja and Levi.”

“Because.” he pulled away. “I'd rather have people who wanted me on there than people who didn't seem to want me.”

His heart lurched. On the one hand, Yuuri was elated that Yuri seemed to know that he and Victor really him there. On the other hand, it had to hurt to know what had happened with Nadja and Levi. The older man just snuggled him a little bit closer. 

“We will always want you. Your ours, you know?”

“Does that make you mine?” his voice was soft, uncertain. So strange when coming from the Ice Tiger. 

“Of course, sweetheart.” he cradled the back of his head. “Of course it does.”


End file.
